Flora Shedden: how to bake a perfect loaf of bread

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The building permissions are finally in place for ARAN bakery. At last, we can start work. The biggest job involves dropping the entire bakery ceiling. The timber dates back 200 years and, as much as I would love to keep the old beams, I have been told that everything must go – joists, beams and all.

The bakery ceiling is also our living-room floor, so while James worries about sleepwalking into the gaping hole, I have been distracting myself the only way I know how: with my new oven. ­Having used an Aga my whole life, an electric oven (with a steam function – squeal!) is beyond exciting.

Steam plays such a crucial, and ­often forgotten, part in baking, particularly bread. The steam helps to...

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